After being absolutely rag-dolled like a two dollar hooker at a Duke lacrosse team party during the first period, the Nucks stood tall and took advantage of the Ducks self-destruction in the second. The Ducks are clearly their own worst enemy when it comes to penalties, provided you can be patient enough and not cowed by their antics and relentless cheap shots.

Kudos to Luongo for a well-deserved second-in-a-row shutout after weathering the storm in the first period.

Hats off to Kessler as well, for coming back from Pronger's dastardly hit after the play was dead to score another goal.

A good laugh was had by all when Henrick was awarded the penalty shot. "Shot? You mean I have to shoot the puck? How exactly does one do that? Isn't that what brothers are for??"

The best moment of the game, however, was when Burke stormed out of the visitor's box in a fury after the fourth goal and never returned.

jchockey wrote:Pronger's a big f*ckin' tool. He was never anything without Al MacInnis and Jason Smith and Scott Niedermayer.

i wouldn't go as far as saying he wasn't ever anything, but on cooke's goal, i couldn't help but think that niedermeyer wouldn't have lost his check (in this case, cooke) right in front of the net. he probably would have skated out and blocked the shot. hope he doesn't unretire.

pronger is a tool though, one of the biggest. i wonder how he and bertuzzi buried the hatchet after the rough memories of the canucks-st louis series of 2003.

The Leafs and Habs draw a massive national audience for TSN. No way can they switch away from that game, even in BC.

The Canucks' resurgence in the last few games has been no mystery. If you want to win, no matter who you are, your best players have to be your best players. Naslund is heating up, and Luongo has found his game again. Therefore, the Canucks are back on track. The same thing is happening in reverse for the Senators -- Heatley has gone cold, and the Ottawa goaltending has been soft in the last few games, and as a result the Senators are suddenly looking pretty mortal.

Speaking of soft, has anyone seen the highlights of the Naslund goal, where Bertuzzi is just standing there in a daze instead of picking up a check? The Ducks are paying $4 million a year to this guy, and he looks THAT soft and disinterested? Yikes. That was a bad, bad signing by Burke, a pure nostalgia move that has now put the Ducks in a tough spot cap wise. Had Burke offered that money to Penner on a contract extention a year ago, he wouldn't be in the mess he is in. It's good that the Ducks are having the year they are having, if only to get Burke's ego back down to just giant proportions as opposed to astronomical...

Good point, Meers. A goal by the Dux in the first may have changed this game quite dramatically.

Meerschaum wrote: A good laugh was had by all when Henrick was awarded the penalty shot. "Shot? You mean I have to shoot the puck? How exactly does one do that? Isn't that what brothers are for??"

Wonder if the GM's would ever consider a change to the rule of awarding a penalty shot to having the choice of the two minute penalty ? At that point in the game (50 seconds or so to go) and the SO so close, given the choice, I would have opted for a two min man advantage.